[comp.sys.hp] new hp/apollo machine ???

rdb@ktibv.uucp (Rob den Braasem) (04/11/91)

Hallo all

I have a question about a new HP/Apollo workstation I heard about.

They (markoids) say it will blow your brain if you see the speed, compared 
to the price. (22.0 MFLOPS /1150 K 2D vectors a second for about $20 K)

Who has seen this magic machine or knows a little about it.

We are running fortrash programs ;) and are interrested about compatibility 
with a HP9000/835.

TIA.

Happy Hacking "PABRAS"

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mjf@mjm.mjm.com (Mark Fresolone) (04/12/91)

>/ mjm:comp.sys.hp / rdb@ktibv.uucp (Rob den Braasem) /  4:41 am  Apr 11, 1991 /
>I have a question about a new HP/Apollo workstation I heard about.
>They (markoids) say it will blow your brain if you see the speed, compared 
>to the price. (22.0 MFLOPS /1150 K 2D vectors a second for about $20 K)

We've had one in a couple of times, and have one on order.  From the little
time we've had with it, it appears quite impressive.  Software builds
are visibly, significantly faster.  I'm worried about having my schedules
moved up when our new machine comes!

So far I've only seen the PVRX display.  It is an entry-level 3D processor,
analogous to the SRX, but I only use portable X software, and haven't
looked at vector performance.  The GRX/CRX (Grey-scale/Color) displays are
supposed to perform very well under X.

>We are running fortrash programs ;) and are interrested about compatibility 
>with a HP9000/835.

The processor is an augmented PA-RISC (i.e. Series 800) chip.  This means
that it will run object code from your 835, but unless you turn on the
compiler's compatibility mode (at least in C), code compiled on the 700 will
not run on the 800.  It's kind of like going from a 68000 to a 68020.

The debugger has been enhanced some, and I found the snmp daemon on all of
the machines I've seen.  X11 headers and libs are now in isolated versioned
sub-directories ("/X11R4/") - a very useful touch for those with lots of X
build environments.

It's a screamer.

Mark Fresolone					mjf@mjm.com, rutgers!mjm!mjf
Melillo Consulting/MJM Software			908-873-0075/Fax 908-873-2250